Method and a system for building up weighed-out portions of object

ABSTRACT

Based on a non-orderly flow of supplied articles, which may also be sticky articles of food, there is effected in a compulsory manner an isolation of mutually separated small article portions, which are moved through a weighing station ( 20 ) and thereafter brought together selectively into larger portions, e..g, with a predetermined weight. In a preferred system according to the invention use is made of an endless row of carrier trays ( 12 ) which, in two straight runs, pass along a number of receiver containers ( 22 ), into which they are selectively emptied after having passed the weighing station. In front of this station distributor means ( 14, 18 ) are provided above a horizontal reversing path of the tray chain for ensuring that the supplied articles are distributed to the trays without overlapping therebetween. Various advantageous embodiments of the single parts of the system to work with a desirably high capacity. According to choice, the system may be used for sorting purposes or for the building up of article portions according to batching or combination weighing principles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 08/578,655,filed Jan. 5, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,195, issued Sep. 29, 1998,which in turn is a filing under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT/DK94/00279, filedJul. 6, 1994, claiming priority of Denmark application number 0805/93,filed Jul. 6, 1993.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and a system for isolatingfrom an unordered flow of objects smaller or larger object groups which,upon being weighed, are brought to a temporary storing in containers,from which they can later on be let out for delivery in combination withother weighed object groups for forming respective total object groupswith a desired total weight, these collected larger groups then beingtransferable to a packing station.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is primarily related to the handling of foodstuff pieces,e.g. for making portions of fish or chicken pieces. It is known thatportions of such pieces can be built up by currently weighing thesuccessively supplied pieces on a dynamic weight and thereafter,dependent of the weighing results, effect a selective supply of thepieces to different receiver containers placed along a further extendingconveyor. What can be aimed at is that in the single containers totalportions can be built up so as to have a desired weight, but it isrequired that the pieces are supplied one by one, such that anassociated computer may all the time keep track of where the pieces arelocated.

With another known method for the making up of object portions theprinciple of combination weighing is used, whereby an unordered flow ofobjects is distributed so as to be received as undetermined portions ina number of weighing containers, in which the portions are weightdetermined, whereafter the computer looks for portions giving a total ofthe desired ultimate portion weight. Thereafter just these selectedsubportions are released into an underlying collector unit, typically alarge hopper, from which they are delivered as one portion. For ensuringa good capacity it is actual here to make use of a considerable numberof weighing units, and besides, these weighing systems, having theweighing units arranged in a straight or circular row, normally exhibita considerable building height, because normally they comprise slantingsliding chutes for the objects/subportions. This also implies that thesesystems may well be suited for dry and rigid products, e.g. pastils androot crops, but not for soft and adhering products. For the invention itis a basic consideration that it will be possible to use the firstmentioned working principle, i.e. using only a single dynamic weight,without the feeding flow of objects being ordered in consisting ofsingle objects conveyed mutually spaced, namely if care is taken that anunordered feeding flow is caused, in a compulsory manner, to beseparated in mutually spaced subportions, whether these comprising asingle or more objects, prior to being fed to the dynamic weight. Herebyit is made possible to operate with the dynamic weighing even when thefeeding flow is unordered, and also to operate with weighing portionscomprising more objects; conventionally, the discussed weighing andsorting out principle has been associated with the handling of singleobjects, but it is highly advantageous when also plural object portionscan be handled.

From EP-A-0,534,889 a combination weight using but a single weighingunit is known; an annular row of receiving containers, which wouldconventionally be stationary and each associated with a weighing unit,is arranged to be circularly movable such that the containers aresuccessively passed over a weighing unit which, with deduction of tare,measures the weight of the single portions in the containers; thesesubportions may then be discharged in suitable combinations forcollection in an underlying hopper, for which it is immaterial whetherthe circular container row rotates or stands still.

In this known portioning apparatus the supply of the unordered flow ofobjects takes place on a conveyor down to a fixed dropping area abovethe rotating ring of receiver containers. Thus, already by their passageof this area, the containers themselves will constitute the meansrequired for separating the flow to the different containers, andvis-a-vis the invention the containers may thus be considered as meansfor achieving an ordering of the supply flow in mutually separatedportions, which may then be weighed. It is here important, however, thatwhile such a technique may be well suited for the handling of dryobjects such as onions or other examples stated in said EP-A-0,534,889,it is absolutely unsuitable for the handling of soft, sticky objects.When supplied in the manner described an object of this type may well bedeposited across the joint between two neighbouring containers, withoutrolling or sliding down therefrom, and the result will be highlydisordered weighings and spoiled possibilities of an orderly delivery ofthe objects from the containers.

It is to be stressed, therefore, that the portioning separation of thesupply flow of objects according to the invention has to be effected andterminated prior to the objects or groups of objects being fed to suchmoved containers or at least in direct connection with the feedingthereto, inasfar as it is acknowledged by the invention that despite thedeviating approach it may still be very advantageous to effect theweighing in of the objects or object groups by a weighing of receivercontainers that are moved in a closed path.

This requirement of a pre-portioning of the object flow makes itdifficult to arrange the separation in such a manner that the objects orobject groups follow each other so closely that they can be deliveredwith required safety to receiving containers advanced without mutualspacing. Normally it will be actual to arrange for the separation bysome sort of forward or rearward pushing of objects in the arriving mainflow for effectively overcoming the said overlapping problem, so thecontainers should be somewhat interspaced during the filling thereof.Thereafter the containers may well be brought together so as to take upa minimum of operative space.

Thus, it is hardly possible to use the carrousel principle disclosed inEP-A-0,534,889, where the containers are closely juxtaposed all the wayround. The principle, at least, will have to be modified such that thecontainers are successively accelerated through a free path inconnection with the filling; however, in connection with the inventionit will normally be desired to use so many and so large containers thatspace requirements will make it non-desirable to use a circular system.It is already known from various systems with round-moving containers orconveyor trays to arrange these in such a manner that they are advancedby a chain in two straight, parallel runs between opposed sprocketwheels, and this is as tailored for the invention, because thecontainers may then be moved with close juxtaposition along the straightruns, while at the sprocket wheels they will radiate from these, i.e.they will exhibit increased mutual spacing, even when still being closeto each other at their inner ends. By the associated swinging away fromeach other the containers will be loadable by marked separated objectgroups, such loading being possible in different ways.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the invention it is a preferred possibility to mount above at leastone of the sprocket wheels a co-rotating cover disc projecting over theopen top sides of the moved receiver containers or bowls and providedwith throughholes with shape and location just corresponding to theunderlying bowls. During the rotation of the sprocket wheel each ofthese holes will thus follow an underlying bowl while the latter moves180° along the wheel, whereby the generally triangular spaces betweenthe bowls will constantly be covered by the rotating disc. Thus, anunordered flow of objects may be supplied to this area, where it may berearranged on the plate by suitable guiding and scraping means so as tobe fed to the holes and therewith to the bowls, prior to thesesuccessively leaving the area. It is ensured thereby that the objectgroups or single objects fed to the bowls really become isolated in thesingle bowls, such that these may then be brought closely together andbe weighed individually on the dynamic weighing unit.

A portioning system according to the invention may be used based on theaccumulative as well as the combination weighing principle, i.e. for thebuilding up of portions either in receiving containers arranged rowwiseunderneath the moving path of the trays for selective reception ofarticles unloaded from the trays, whereby these containers may thendeliver the ready-accumulated portions to an underlying conveyor, or inthat single portions are unloaded from the trays/containers so as tofall down or be guided down on such a conveyor in order to be broughttogether into a combination portion with a desired weight. Such abringing together may well be effected by means of a horizontalconveyor, also with the use of parallel conveyors along the saidstraight stretches of the moving path of the trays, as it is possible bymeans of a suitable control equipment to arrange for a coordinateddelivery of the articles or article portions to a cross moving collectorconveyor, on which the different portions may then be brought togetherfor the formation of the combination portion. This arrangement will notrequire any noticeably increased building height of the system, andnonetheless the system may operate with sticky articles, which, in acircular combination weigher, would require pronounced inclined slidingsurfaces and therewith an extra large building height.

Moreover, the system will be usable for effecting sorting jobs, e.g. forthe building up of portions of a predetermined number of articles and ofuniform weights, though this will require the articles to be fed one byone.

It has been mentioned that the preferred solution will be to feed thearticles or article portions to a row of moved trays, which aresuccessively weighed on a dynamic weighing unit, but this will notinfluence the fact that the invention may also be realized based on itsbasic principle, which is the division of a supplied unorderly flow ofarticles into mutually separated article groups, which, after beingweighed on a dynamic weighing unit, are brought further to a conveyor,from which the articles or article portions are selectively let out toreceiver containers arranged along the conveyor, without the use of anymoved containers or trays.

In the following the invention is explained in more detail withreference to the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a weighing out systemaccording to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a couple of trays of a preferred designused therein,

FIG. 3 is a corresponding, schematic view of a weighing station of thesystem,

FIG. 4 is a top view of an end portion of the system,

FIGS. 5-7 are schematic views illustrating a preferred embodiment of theweighing station,

FIG. 8 is a lateral view of a driving system of the trays,

FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic views illustrating a preferred suspensionsystem for the trays,

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the end of the system shown in FIG. 4,

FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view of a modified cover disc according toFIG. 11,

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a special design of the system,

FIGS. 14 and 15 are top views of conveyor means underneath system,

FIG. 16 is a schematic view illustrating a modified infeed system,

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a systemaccording to the invention,

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a modified infeeder unit of the system,

FIG. 19 is a similar view of a modified embodiment thereof,

FIG. 20 is a top view of a system having two infeed areas, and

FIGS. 21 and 22 are schematic lateral views of modified infeed units.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

The system or apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has a frame chassis 2 withlongitudinally extending beds 4 and transverse end beds 6, outside whichthe beds 4 are mutually connected by means of semicircular frameportions 8. Between the end beds 6 there extend in a central area twomutually separated, depending wall portions 10, the outsides of whichform guiding surfaces for a roundgoing chain row of weighing trays 12,which is driven by a non-illustrated traction station at the right handend of the apparatus. At their outer ends the said trays are carried incarrier tracks in the bed portions 4, 8, optionally in wall plateportions depending therefrom.

To the right is shown a turntable 14, which rotates in synchronism withthe chain movement and is provided with a number of holes 16, whichduring operation will be located just overhead the trays 12 passingaround at this end of the apparatus, radiating from the associatedsprocket wheel of the chain, while the trays 12 otherwise, along thestraight runs, are closely juxtaposed.

Above the inlet side of this turntable is mounted a supply conveyor orconduit 13 for articles to be weighed out in portions. The articles aresupplied in a reasonably even flow, adapted to the capacity of theapparatus, and they fall freely down onto the disc 14, whereby they arecaused to fall down through the holes 16, partly naturally and partly ina compulsory manner by meeting a shuffle plate 18 or one or morecorresponding shuffle brushes, whereby the passing trays 12 will receivejust more or less equal article portions.

Immediately when leaving this area the partly filled trays 12 pass aweighing station 20, in which the trays are lifted free of theirconveying means and are weighed successively, the individual weighingresults being currently transferred to a non-illustrated computer. Priorto operation, the row of empty trays may be circulated one or more times, whereby the computer may register the tare weight of the single,numbered trays, to thereafter make the tray contents weighable with therequired accuracy.

The trays 12 are made with an openable bottom so as to be able to emptytheir contents at desired places, subject to computer actuation ofreleaser means (not shown), whereby they may be selectively emptied intounderlying receiver containers 22 mounted on carrier means 24 along bothof the straight runs of the tray chain.

Alternatively, along these lower, straight stretches there may beprovided compartment conveyors for receiving the unloaded articles orportions and bringing them to a desired place of reception, e.g. also atransverse conveyor for uniting single portions from the two stretches.The compartments of the conveyors will make sure that the portions bekept mutually isolated, and the computer will know at any time whichweighing portions, single or combined, are present in the differentcompartments along the conveyor stretches. Hereby a large register maybe available with respect to the formation of combination portions.These portions, of course, may also be formed by unloading from thecontainers 22, if these are openable in a computer controlled mannerdown against underlying take-away conveyors.

Trays 12 of a preferred design are schematically illustrated in FIG. 2.They are made of two planar side plates 30 having at their endsorthogonally bent out, triangular end plates 32, the outer pointed endsof which are permanently held together in an indirect manner. The sideelements 30,32 are held together in being pivoted to a transversecarrier member 36 by means of pins 34. As shown to the left in FIG. 2the elements may be held together in a position in which they form atray with a triangular cross section, and they are stabilized in thisposition by means of pivot arms projecting straight towards each otherfrom respective pivots 38 at the upper, outer corners of one of the traygables, while at the middle of the gable they are pivotallyinterconnected-by means of a protruding pin 42. The carrier member 36has a bent out plate portion 44, by means of which the tray is carriedin its path of movement, driven by the said driving chain. The planarinclined walls 30 have upper extensions 31, and the gable plates 32 maybe correspondingly extended.

The tray may be opened by an upward pull in the middle pin 42, as thepivot arms 40 will then effect a pulling together of the upper cornersof the tray during pivoting of the tray parts 30,32 about the fixed pins34. Thereby the tray may be brought into the position shown to the rightin FIG. 2, i.e. a fully open position, in which the formerly inclinedside/bottom plates 30 are now vertical and interspaced. Thus, nothingcan prevent the contents from falling down, even if there are stickyarticles, and the opening may be effected in a rapid and precise manner,such that the contents may be let out precisely at a selected place,i.e. above any selected container 22, and even simultaneously orotherwise coordinated with the delivery of articles from other trays forthe building up of desired combination weighing portions.

For effecting the tray opening simple, displaceable ramp elements 46,FIG. 2, may be used, which, actuated by control means 48, may beswitched between a passive, e.g. raised position, in which the pins 42on the trays 12 may pass freely, and an active engaging position, inwhich an arriving pin 42 will hit into the ramp 46 and thus rapidly beforcibly lifted to the raised position shown to the right in FIG. 2,i.e. so as to open the tray rapidly and totally.

Such actuator units 46, 48 are mounted regularly spaced along the movingpath, typically at the leading end of each of the receiver containers22, but possibly also with a smaller spacing, e.g. if the collectedarticles or portions are to be delivered to an underlying conveyorhaving a smaller compartment pitch.

A decisive function is a correct weighing of the trays, and as these arehere depending below their supported portions 44 they cannot be weighedmerely by introduction into a traditional dynamic weighing station.However, as indicated above, the trays can be lifted during theirpassage of the weighing station such that they will act on the weighingsystem solely with their proper weight. This is very schematically shownin FIG. 3, where there is inserted in a set of guiding rails 50 aweighing station 52 having carrier belts 54 in a higher level. Inpractice the system will be made so as to comprise at either side of themoving path a weighing cell for the associated end of the tray, or,alternatively, a single weighing cell at one side and two mutuallyspaced weighing cells at the other side, such that a very reliable threepoint weighing of the passing articles is achievable.

In the following, various details of a preferred design of the systemwill be discussed in more detail.

When the trays move in the transitions between the straight side runsand the half circular end runs the outer ends of the trays are subjectedto a marked acceleration and deceleration, respectively, which may giverise to wear and shakings. A small compensation occurs when the traysengage the chain in two spaced points, as these will then pass thepoints of transition with some time difference. Thus, at the entrance toa curved run the leading point of engagement will enter the curved runwhile the rear point will still be moved at a straight line, i.e. thetray will be swung forwardly about the rear point with an accelerationrising gradually from zero, but then decreasing abruptly when the rearpoint passes the point of transition; then the tray will have reachedthe position relative the chain, in which it will remain during theentire curved course, until a correspondingly sudden beginning andsmooth termination of the straightening out of the tray takes place atthe following transition to a straight run.

However, the whole change still occurs during a motion of just a singletray width, so abrupt changes will still occur, and it is desirable todecrease the associated impacts.

According to the invention this is achievable in arranging for only oneof the said engagement points to positively engage with the drivingchain along the curved runs, while the other engagement point is broughtto engage with a guiding rail extending along a path deviating from thatof the driving chain, viz. such that the trays will thereby carry outtheir out-and inbound pivoting in a smoothly progressing manner over alength considerably larger than the tray width. Already a doubling ofthis length will imply a substantial reduction of the adverse effects,and correspondingly also the remaining, sudden change of motion can besmoothed.

For the very driving of the trays it is of course sufficient that thetrays are drivingly connected with the chain in but a single point, andthe other point of engagement, therefore, may by located in such anoffset manner that by the motion of the tray it will be engageable withthe said guiding rail outside the run of the driving chain.

Preferably the rear point of engagement is selected as the chaincontacting point, whereby it is the leading point that should be free toleave the chain and be guided along a rail, which, in principle, willextend as a half-ellipse outside the halfcircular path of the chain.However, in connection with the discussed turntable 14 it is desirablethat the tray position be kept constant along an outermost run ofsomewhat less than 90°, viz. corresponding to the location of theopenings 16; along this stretch, therefore, the outer guiding railshould extend along a circular path, concentrically with the chain. Thespecial arrangement will imply that the openings 16 should occur withtheir longitudinal direction inclined relative to the radial direction,this being shown in FIG. 4, in which the arrangement is schematicallyillustrated.

In FIG. 4 it is indicated that at their rear ends the trays 12 arepivotally connected with an endless chain 60 by means of pivots 62,while at their front end they the slidingly engage a guiding rail 64 bymeans of slide pins 66. The chain passes about sprockets 68, of whichonly one is shown. At its tangential arrival at the sprocket 68, at A,the chain procedes in a half-circular run ABCD, while the rail 64continues in a less curved stretch between A and B, then in a stretchconcentric with the chain between B and C, outside the chain, and backto its straight stretch through a smooth curve between C and D. Thetransitions at all of the four places are softly curved.

It will be understood that the trays by their passage from A to B willbe pivoted smoothly and slowly to a position which is obliquelyradiating from the wheel 68 and is thereafter maintained at the stretchB-C, while along the stretch C-D the trays, relatively fast but stillsmoothly, will be return pivoted to their position normal to the chain.The stretches A-B and C-D may extend over some 45°, and when thepivotings of the trays are distributed over such lengths there will beno harmful shakings of the system.

As mentioned, it is not unknown to use trays or bowls moved in anendless row and passing a dynamic weight. An elementary solution is tomount a belt weigher in the transportation path, whereby the bowlsshould just be advanced on the weighing belt through the time and lengthrequired for a weighing with an acceptable accuracy. However, the bowlsshould then follow each other with a certain mutual spacing, because theweighing of a bowl cannot start until the preceding bowl has left thebelt. In the said EP-A-0,534,889 the bowls are of a design correspondingroughly to FIG. 2, and a juxtaposed mounting of the bowls is enabled byeach bowl being stabilized by means of a system of parallel levers whichallow for some vertical movement of the bowls, while these, at a gableside thereof and in a relatively low level, are provided with a supportroller which, when passing the weighing station, runs on a weighingrail. Seen from this rail the bowls will be reduced to points, and a newbowl point can be introduced on the rail as soon as the previous pointhas left it; hereby the bowls can be arranged closely juxtaposed, whenthe same length dimension can apply to the bowls and the weighingstretch, respectively.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention it is undesirable to use thesaid parallel levers, which may well be suited in a pure carrouselstructure, but hardly combined with a chain drive through curved andstraight runs. In FIGS. 2 and 3 it is indicated that it is possible,instead, to use supports 44 placed at a relatively high level at themiddle of both gables of the bowls. These high level supports, shaped asplates 44, may support the bowls in a stable manner on the belts 54 whenthese, as required, cause the bowls to be lifted free of theirconnection with their endless propulsion means (see below), the plates44 being short enough to be, if not point shaped, then at leastconsiderably shorter than the bowls, whereby these may be arrangedclosely juxtaposed.

However, even for the invention it would be ideal to operate with pointengagements between the bowls 12 and the weighing belts 54. On the faceof it this will be unrealistic, as the free-lifted bowls, not otherwisesupported, could then tilt in an uncontrolled manner all according tothe load distribution; it has been realized, however, that it is in factpossible to use a mono-or bilateral double point support for generallystabilizing the bowls, while these, seen from the weighing belts, willstill be point shaped. This will be a matter of arranging for such asupport of the bowls that mutually spaced carrier pins thereof areadvanced along separate conveyor tracks, from which they may beconcurrently delivered to the the weighing belt and later again beconcurrently released therefrom. For the required stability of the bowlsit is sufficient if such a stabilizing engagement occurs onlymonolaterally, as at the other side it is then possible to use but asingle support pin for bringing the bowl along the weighing belt inpoint engagement therewith. When the opposed, mutually spaced carrierpins are brought to and from the weighing belt means, guided or carriedindividually, the result will be that each successive bowl, despite abroad support thereof, will load the weighing system only pointwise,whereby in practice the bowls can be arranged closely juxtaposed forsecuring a high capacity of the system.

Such a system is shown schematically in FIGS. 5-7. The bowls areprovided with a single, projecting carrier pin 70 at one side and withtwo pins 72 and 74 at the other side, where the pin 72 is the leadingone. The bowls are advanced with these pins resting on carrier rails 76and 78, of which the rail 78 carrying the pins 72 and 74 is divided intotwo parallel branch portions 80, 82 adjacent the weighing station; theweighing belt 541 at this side is longer than the opposed belt 54.

Both of the rail portions 80 and 82 have an interruption, as they havedownwardly sloping ends 801 and 821 at the inlet end of the belt 54 ,while further ahead they continue from upwardly sloping ends 80″ and 82″into the single rail 78. The rail portions 80 and 82 are shown locatedat either side of the belt 54; the pins 74 project over the belt, butnot to the rail 82, while the pins 72 project so as to be carried by thelatter, yet not by the rail 80, inasfar as they have a lower recess 84,FIG. 7, right above the rail 80.

It will be noted from FIG. 5 that the rail ends 801 and 821 are mutuallyspaced corresponding to the distance between the pins 72 and 74 on thesingle bowls. Consequently, both pins will be lowered onto the belt 541concurrently with the rail 76 producing a corresponding lowering of thepin 70 onto the other belt 54. The stretch forwardly to the rail ends80″ and 82″, which are correspondingly mutually spaced, may now be usedfor the weighing of the bowl. The pin 72 will pass along the rail 80,but due to the said recess 84, FIG. 7, this will not influence the pin,such that during the weighing course the bowl will be entirely free ofthe carrier rails.

The pins 72 and 74 will reach the respective rail ends 80″ and 82″ atthe same time and simultaneously with the pin 70 reaching acorresponding rail end 76″, i.e. the entire bowl is then raised off thebelts 54,541 and continues, driven by the chain, along the rails 76,78.It is of course a condition that the weighing belts should accommodatebut a single bowl at a time, and if the active weighing stretch isdesired to be long, the distance between the bowls should be equallylong. Inversely, the system will enable the bowls to be closelyjuxtaposed if it is acceptable that the weighing stretch be as short asgiven by the length dimension of the bowls. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6the bowls may then follow each other closely, as emphasized above. Therail portions 80 and 82 may well be located at the same side of the belt541, and the system may be modified such that one or more of the pinsare located in different levels; the pins sliding on the carrier railswill not have to be the same as those engaging the belts.

In FIGS. 5-7 it is left open how the bowls are driven, as this is notdirectly relevant. In practice, however, it is important that the bowls,being in driving connection with e.g. a chain drive, be coupled free ofthis drive in the weighing station, such that the bowls are leftentirely to themselves as long as they are advanced on the drivenweighing belts 54, 541. For avoiding weighing noise this will be highlypreferable over a compulsory movement of the bowls effected from theoutside as according to said EP-A-0,534,889.

One possibility of such a free coupling is shown in FIG. 8, whichindicates that one of the said pins or a special driving pin 86 on thebowls may engage a driving chain 88 having special link plates 90, inwhich there is provided a forwardly expanding opening 92, the rear endof which serves to push the pin 86 and thus the bowl forwardly. Here,the weighing belt system 54, 541 is adapted to move slightly faster thanthe chain 88, whereby the bowl and therewith the pin 86 is movedforwardly in the opening 92, such that the pin 86 will entirely leaveits engagement with the chain 88 as long as the weighing is going on.After the weighing the chain will catch up with the bowl and reestablishthe driving engagement with the pin 86.

This system shows the advantage that the bowls are well entirelyliberated for the weighing operation, but still potentially engaging thechain such that they are further conveyable if they have been stoppedtemporarily, e.g. by a current breakdown.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show another and even preferred solution in which thebowls are carried by frame elements 94, which are preferably cast ofreinforced plastics and integrally provided with the relevant detailssuch as bearings for the pivot pins 34 of the bowl (FIG. 2). The frames94, which may be used for bowls of different sizes, slide on the rail 76with a foot member 96, while at the opposite end there is both acorresponding foot member 97 and a pin 98 depending into a guidinggroove in the carrier rail 78. The driving chain 100 is housed in anupper hollow rail 102 and is provided with link blocks 104 holding adepending pin 106, which at its lower end has a conical body 108 with anupper, outwardly projecting collar 110. The pin 106 is downwardly springbiased, and the conical body 108 is received in a conical hole 112 inthe frame 94, whereby a foremost driving engagement with the the frameis established.

At the entrance to the weighing belt 54 the collar 110 of the conicalbody hits an inclined ramp 114, which raises the unit 106, 108, 110 andthen keeps it raised during its entire passage on the belt. As shown tothe left in FIG. 10 the engagement will hereby be effectively broken,and in this case the weighing belts are driven at the same speed as thechain 100 such that normally there will occur only very small or indeedno displacements between the parts 108 and 112 during the weighing,where thus the frame/bowl units are left entirely to themselves. Alsohere, a driving connection can be established in special situations, asthe conical body 108 is not entirely lifted free of the hole 112. Afterthe weighing the conical body 108 is lowered to its normal position inwhich it fits in the hole 112 without exerting any considerablepressure.

It is advantageous that the bowls will not have to change their speed attheir arrival at the weighing station, and it should even be endeavouredto guide the bowls in a straight line onto the weighing belts in orderto reduce weighing noise as much as possible. Thus, the rails 80 and 82in FIG. 6 should be lowered somewhat.

The illustrated frame 94 is adapted to cooperate with a weighing stationof the type shown in FIG. 3, but it may well be designed to cooperatewith a station according to FIGS. 5-6.

Comparing with FIG. 4 it will now be the conical member 108 that drivesthe bowl in the inner path around the sprocket wheel 68, while the rail78 guide the pins 98 through the outer path. It is only required to adda carrier rail for the point or points at which the bowl or the frame issupported on the rail 78 in the straight runs.

When it is thus the foremost pin which is driving and when—like in FIG.4—there is selected an exterior course of the rail 64, then the pivotphases of the bowls will be opposite to FIG. 4, i.e. with the relativelyrapid pivoting along the stretch A-B and the slower pivoting along theoutlet phase C-D.

This also appears from FIG. 11, in which the cover disk 14 has its holes16 adapted according to the orientation of the bowls along the stretchB-C.

Moreover, FIG. 11 shows that above the disk 14 there is mounted, on acentral hub 116, a radial arm 118 having at its outer end a plate 120with a shape and orientation corresponding to each of the holes 16. Theplate 120 may be kept parked in the illustrated inoperative position,but by means of suitable actuation means the arm 118 may be coupled withthe disk 14, such that the arm is co-rotated through a single revolutionwith the plate 120 covering one of the holes, as indicated in dottedlines. What is intended is that a selected bowl should not receive anymaterial at all in the filling station, as it is then possible tocurrently check the tare weight of the bowls without any markedreduction of the capacity of the system. For example, such a weighingmay be made for every tenth movement cycle of each of the bowls.

As shown in FIG. 12 the holes 16 in the disk 14 may be provided at thebottom of funnel shaped depressions 17, whereby rollable articles areeasier to handle.

The system design according to FIG. 1 is advantageous also in that thecentral space between the plates 10 is usable as a covered machine roomwhich may contain e.g. actuators for the actuating ramps 46 (FIG. 2);these may be switchable laterally or vertically. Also, the said room mayhouse some spare bowls for rapid mounting in the frames 94, should bowlstherein be damaged.

FIG. 13 schematically shows a corresponding system, where beneath a rowof receiver cells 221 at each side there is mounted a longitudinallyextending conveyor belt 23 that may bring portions or articles deliveredfrom the cells 22 to a transverse conveyor 25. As already mentioned, itwill then be possible to let the system carry out different types ofgrouping work based on a methodic weighing of the delivered andoptionally merged article portions. The system is well suited to bebuilt with a high number of receiver cells 22 , such that forcombination weighing there are rich possibilities of finding articles orportions for merging, such that a high working capacity and good resultsas to minimized loss involving overweight in the portions will beachievable. Besides, a noticeable saving is obtainable thanks to thesystem being able to operate with no or very little attendance once thedesired job or jobs of the system having been read in.

When supplying a flow of articles to be delivered according to specificcriteria, there may be some risk that articles may occur which will notfit anywhere. Conventionally, such articles will proceed to collectionor recirculation at the outer end of a conveyor, but with the presentsystem it is possible to use for such a collection the container or cell22 located as the last one in the return path to the feeding station,whereby these collected articles are automatically delivered closelynext to this station. Moreover, an immediate recirculation will bepossible, viz. simply by passing the already filled bowl through thefeeding station, optionally covered by the plate 120, FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 shows a modification, where the belts 23 are replaced by twobelts 231 at either side, conveying towards a central receiver area withan outfeed conveyor 251. Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 15, broadbelts 23″ may be used for conveying inwardly to a longitudinallyextending outfeed conveyor 25. The purpose of these layouts is topromote a rapid merging of combination portions on the outfeed conveyor,without in the meantime blocking delivery of new portions

The invention has now been described with reference to the illustrated,preferred system, but the principle of the invention extends muchfurther. In that system the said grouping of the unorderly article flowis effected in a fully integrated manner, in the last moment before thedelivery of the articles to the bowls, and already this function may bemodified, see e.g. FIG. 16.

In FIG. 16 is shown a row of closely juxtaposed bowls 12 which, along aninfeed stretch, is advanced beneath a belt/chain 122 made of transverselamellas 124, which, during the conveying, are located just above thegaps between the consecutive bowls 12. The unorderly flow of articles issupplied through a pipe 13 for being laid out on the lower run of thechain 122. The lamellas 124 will ensure that no article can be deliveredlying over two bowls 12, assisted by a scraper brush 18″. At thedelivery end of the lower chain run there is provided an obliquelyoutwardly guiding scraper blade 126 which will guide non-depositedarticles out for collection in a special container. It will thus beensured that the supplied articles, whether they are hard and rollableor are flat and sticky, will be deposited in a well defined and fullyisolated manner in the single bowls, such that a weighing inaccuracy dueto article overlapping between the bowls will not occur anywhere.

However, the invention is not limited to this grouping taking place inimmediate connection with the delivery of the articles to the bowls, asit will be just as effective if the article flow be divided beforehandinto separate portions, which may then, in a more uncritical manner, besynchronously transferred to the consecutive bowls for pre-eliminationof the said overlapping problems. In the following this will bedescribed in more detail.

The system shown in FIG. 17 comprises a conveying weighing belt 132forming part of a dynamic weighing station 134, which includes or isconnected with a computer for registering the weight of articles movedon the belt 132. This belt brings the articles to an outlet belt 136having along one or both sides a row of receiver containers 138. At thetop of the belt 136 diverter means are provided, operable by means ofthe computer to effect a lateral movement of the advanced articles forselective delivery thereof to the containers 138 all according to theregistered weight of the articles. Typically, for this selectivelyactuated wipe-off movement there is used a diverter plate 140 which,from a swung-out outer position shown in dotted lines, is inwardlypivotable about a shaft 142 into a diverter position obliquely crossingthe belt, wherein the plate 140 will divert a conveyed article outwardlyfor delivery into the associated receiver container 138. The pivoting ofthe plate 140 is controlled by a cylinder 144, which is actuated by theweighing station 134 for acting on a radially projecting arm on theshaft 142.

Each of the containers 138 has an openable bottom plate 146, controlledfrom the station 134, and along which the container contents may slidedown to an underlying conveyor belt 148 extending along the row ofcontainers 138.

Thus, each article having passed the weighing belt 132 may be sorted outto any of the containers 138 all according to the article weight, aswell known per se.

In front of the weighing belt 132, according to the invention, there ismounted a feeding belt 150, which is driven with a velocity that may behigher than the speed of the weighing belt 132, e.g. 30-60 meters perminute and some 80 m/m, respectively, while the following belt 136 maybe driven slightly slower than the weighing belt 132, or preferably withthe same speed, e.g. 70 m/m. However, the invention is not limited tospecial speed conditions, and it may even be advantageous to work withthe same or successively decreasing speeds.

Above the feeding belt 150 a feeding conveyor 152 is arranged, receivingfrom a pipe mouthing 154 or in any other manner an even—or maybeuneven—flow of articles to be weighed out in portions. These articlesare advanced on the belt 152, e.g. by means of dogs 156, and are broughtto fall down on the feeding belt 150.

A special conveyor 158 is provided in the space between the conveyors150 and 152 with the task of advancing entrainment plates 160 along thetop side of the belt 150 and returning them along an upper, inoperativerun. As shown, these plates are curved in the transverse direction suchthat at their front sides they will act collecting at the articlessupplied from above, when they are moved along the belt 150 with a speedlower than that of this belt, e.g. with a speed of 30-60 meters perminute. The speed of the feeding belt 150 may be considerably higher,e.g. 30-60 m/m, whereby the fallen articles will relatively rapidly begrouped together against the curved rear side of the plate 160. Above,this plate was denoted an entrainment plate which is not fully correctaccording to common terminology, as it does not push the articlesforwardly, but rather acts to retard articles that would otherwise bemoved still faster on the belt 150, such that the articles retarded arecollected in a group 162 at the rear of the plate 160 before such groupis delivered to the weighing belt 132 by a swinging up of the plate 160at the rear end of the belt 150.

The conveyor 158 operates with one or more additional cross plates 160which, in being successively guided down to and forwardly along thefeeding belt 150, will ensure that the flow of articles as supplied bythe conveyor 152 will consequently be delivered as joined and mutuallyspaced article groups 162 to the weighing belt and therewith also to thefollowing sorter belt 136.

Thereafter the article groups 162 may be sorted out to the receivercontainers 138 just as it is known to sort out single articles accordingto their weights.

The weighing unit/computer 134 may detect whether the article groups 162do appear at optimum rate, and the unit may feed-back control the speedsof the conveyors 152, 150 and 158 for optimizing the article supply.

Moreover, the weighing computer 134 may decide whether article groupsalready weighed out into the containers 138 should most suitably waitfor a further portion 162 for filling up to full weight, or whether thesame full weight could better or as well be established by mergingpartial portions from a number of the containers 138. This in its turnmay require the belt 148 to be controlled to move stepwise forascertaining that partial portions from these containers are let out foraccumulation at the same place on the belt. Alternatively, the portionsmay be let out onto the moving belt 148 and be brought therefrom to apacking unit or a further conveying belt 149 which is kept stillstandingwhile receiving the partial portions.

For the invention it is important that a supplied flow of articles beseparated in mutually separated portions delivered to the weighing belt132, preferably without the associated grouping being conditioned bydelays in the supply flow, as this would imply a lowered supplycapacity. Such a grouping is obtainable in many ways, but particularlyat high speed operation it is required to consider the type andcondition of the actual articles.

If the articles are suitably large it can be advantageous to use agrouping unit as shown in FIG. 18, where, underneath the upper run of abelt conveyor 170 with a plurality of belts, there is mounted a movingsystem for fingers 172, which are rowwise upstanding between the belts.The fingers 172 may be used either for a retarded conveying of articleson a still faster driven belt 170 or, inversely, for actively pushingthe articles forwardly on a slower moving belt; at the extreme the belt170 may stand still and thus be replaced by a fixed plate support.Something similar could apply to the belt 150 in FIG. 17, where theassociated pusher plates 160 would then have to be inversely curved inorder to act laterally to collect on the articles.

Optionally, the grouping means 160, may be so adapted that at thedelivery of the article portions they will affect these with a throwingimpact for safe transfer to the weighing belt 132.

It will be a further possibility for obtaining the desired grouping tocause the articles to be scraped down into pocketlike outlet depressionsin a belt that is moved along with the belt 150, with the same speed,the depressions being open at the bottom, but closed by abutting thebelt 150. When the depressions are swung up at the delivery end of thebelt 150 they will leave the article portions in tightly collectedformations for transfer to the weighing belt 132, optionally for adirect transfer to this belt.

For achieving the desired grouping it will not be a necessity to usespecial entrainment or separation means, as a corresponding effect isobtainable with the use of a length variable feeding conveyor that canbe projected forwardly for the collection of an outer article group andthen be rapidly retracted for joined delivery of the group by itsfalling down on an underlying belt.

FIG. 19 shows a system comprising a bowl conveyor 180 having bowls 182driven in a closed path with opposed straight stretches and curved ends.Above one of the straight stretches a feeding belt 184 is mounted,feeding an unorderly flow of articles to the system and delivering thearticles to fall down onto a fixed plate 186 slightly below the lowerrun of this belt. Between the two parts 184 and 186 a shuffle plate 188is arranged, which, by means of a cylinder 190, can be projected over oralong the plate 186 for shuffling off the articles on this plate andcausing them to fall down onto an underlying belt 192 provided with dogs194. From the latter belt the articles are brought to fall down onto thebowl conveyor 180, whereby the articles are groupwise received in thebowls or trays 182.

The belt 192 is a weighing belt which, in a manner not shown, issuspended in an overlying carrier chassis that may be provided withmeans for weighing the entire belt unit 192 and therewith also foreffectively weighing the article portions successively advanced thereon.Alternatively, the unit can be a regular dynamic weigher, where theupper run of the belt passes over a weighing device placed between theupper and the lower run of the belt.

The cylinder 190 is actuated with even, suitable time intervals forprojecting the shuttle plate 188 relatively rapidly, such that thearticles received on the plate 186 are brought down as a joined group tothe belt 192 between two dogs 194. The shuffling plate 188 has an upper,rearwardly projecting plate 166 which, during the shuffling movement,will receive articles supplied from the feeding belt 184, while by thereturn movement of the plate 188 these articles will be delivered to theplate 186 by hitting the front end of the belt 184.

It will be appreciated that the articles supplied in an unorderly flowon the belt 184 will hereby be separated into article portions which canbe weighed on the belt 192 and thereafter be delivered to respectivereceiver trays 182 in the endless tray conveyor 180.

The conveyor belt or belts used may advantageously be provided withtransverse dogs, which will secure a steady separation betweenneighbouring portions and, for control purposes, a clear positioning ofthe single portions, even when the portions comprise easy-to-rollarticles. Such a separation by dogs will be suitable also on theweighing belt and, optionally, on the preceding belt, all according tothe manner of effecting the separation between the articles or articlegroups. By the dynamic weighing the dogs will have no influence on theweighing result when it is the whole weighing belt that is weighed.

In FIG. 19 it is indicated that in connection with the trays 182′ theremay be arranged one or more externally located trays 182, which areadvanced along a carrier chassis together with the inner tray 182 andare individually controllable for letting out the collected articles orarticle groups. Each additional row of such added trays 182′, as far asthe feeding is concerned, may be served by a separate feeding stationarranged in parallel with the station 184-198, and for the reception ofarticles from the additional trays the underlying receiver system can becorrespondingly built out, whereby a considerable increase of thecapacity is obtainable with the use of one same basic moving system forthe circulating movement of the trays 182 or the trays 182 and 182′,respectively.

It should be noted that the differentiated distribution system can beused not only for the merging of similar articles, but certainly alsofor the merging of mutually different articles, e.g. different pieces ofpoultry, such that it can be ascertained that arriving partial piecesare combined into representative portions containing all the partialpieces. Moreover, it will be possible to operate with different articlesthat are kept entirely separated, fed via respective feeding stations.

In FIG. 20 it is shown that it is easily possible to arrange for anarticle supply from a single belt 184 to two feeding stations, whenusing diverters 185 for a lateral guiding out of separate flows of thearticles at different places and/or to opposite sides.

It is of course decisive that the articles or article portions deliveredfrom the weighing belt 192 be transferred in a well defined manner intothe respective receiver trays 182. In particular, when easily slidableor rollable articles are concerned, such articles may well be locatedimmediately next to the entrainment ribs 194, and in practice it will bedifficult to ensure that all articles between two such ribs aredelivered to one and only one passing tray 182. For improving on this itcan be chosen, according to the invention, to operate the weighing beltwith a relatively high speed, while the shuffle plate 188 is actuated atsuch intervals which, for the belt 192, will correspond to a receptionof goods in every second compartment between the ribs 194. With asuitable synchronisation the unloading of goods from the belt 192 maythen take place during the passage of an intermediate length of thereceiver tray 182, whereafter the trays will reach to be moved forbringing a new tray in position, before the next portion iscorrespondingly safely unloaded. The unloading will be entirely stoppedduring the passage of the interfacing sides of the trays, whereby theunloadings will be correct according to the recorded weighings.

The equipment will also be usable for the handling of single articles,when only these are fed one by one with a suitable spacing. With the useof combination weighers it is customary that one or more operators carryout a manual feeding of the single articles, but in the presentconnection it should only be checked that the automatically suppliedarticles are not located too close to one another.

A feeding of article portions combined with the making up of theportions from an even flow of articles may, alternatively, be effectedas shown in FIG. 21. The article flow 189 is advanced on a belt 184 nextto a weighing or transfer belt 198, and along the opposite side there isarranged a longitudinally extending, welled shuffle plate 195 withcompartments corresponding to the pitch of the entrainment ribs 19 ofthe belt. When the plate 195 is pushed towards the belt 198, e.g. bymeans of a cylinder 197, separate article portions will be confinedwithin the said compartments and will be transferred to the belt 198 byfalling down into the spaces between the ribs thereof. This transfer maybe effected during stillstand or movement of the belts.

A corresponding portioning may be effected as shown in FIG. 22 by meansof a straight plate 194 serving to push out the articles to an areaabove the belt 198, where there is arranged a system of invertedV-shaped lamellae 200, between which the articles will slide down alongsteep sides to the underlying belt 198 for delivery to the areas thereofbetween its entrainment ribs 191.

What is claimed is:
 1. An infeed system for receiving a flow ofarticles, including foodstuff articles of semi-soft and sticky types,and feeding said articles or groups of such articles to a dynamic weightdetermining unit requiring the successive articles or groups of articlesto be located and mutually spaced according to preset operationalconditions, the infeed system having a receiver port for said flow ofarticles or article groups arranged in accordance with said operationalconditions, wherein in a path between said receiver port and said outletconveyor there is provided means operable for performing compulsoryactions on said articles to effectively divide the supplied flow ofarticles into mutually fully separated articles or article groupscomplying with said operational conditions whenever the articles asreceived do not already comply with these conditions.